Annotation

The work is devoted to the history of customs, and the focus of the study is shifted to the tools of customs and tariff regulation in the Russian Empire, which underwent a radical transformation at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries: classical protectionism gave way to a dynamic model of patronage. The article shows that the protection of national interests was based on the principle of the «deal of the century»: the government guaranteed the leaders of the global industry a unique package of preferences — the golden ruble, stable government contracts, a system of concessions and reliance on raw materials in exchange for the localization of industrial presence in the Russian territory and access to markets for finished products. The paper considers the tools for the transition to an active strategy of technological sovereignty, which made it possible to transform the Russian Empire into one of the key centers of the global industrial system.